Activist: President Zagel should resign, because she is unable to govern effectively given the widespread belief that...

Annie on August 19, 2020

Hi @anchelle,

This question asks you to pick the principle which most helps to justify the activist's argument over the President's argument. Here is the argument:

Activist: President should resign because she's unable to govern because people think she rigged the election.

President: I can't resign because it would make the rest of the world see us as a country with an unstable political system.

You're looking for a principle which supports the activist's argument and counters the President's argument.

Answer (E) does just that. It tells us that it is more important for a president to govern effectively then for a country to be viewed as stable. Essentially, it tells us that the activist was right to focus on the president's ability to govern and the president was wrong to focus on how other countries view the political system. Thus, this is a principle which supports the activist's argument over the President' argument.

shunhe on August 19, 2020

Hi @anchelle,

Thanks for the question! So let’s walk through this argument here. The activist is saying that President Zagel should resign, since she can’t govern effectively because people think she rigged the election.

President Zagel herself then responds and says that over the last decade, scandals have forced two other presidents to resign. So if she resigned too, the country would seem unstable to the rest of the world. That’s unacceptable, so she has to stay in office.

Now we’re asked for a principle that would justify the activist’s argument in the face of President Zagel’s argument. And the activist is arguing that President Zagel should resign (the conclusion). So we need something that’ll justify that. Let’s say that (E) is trying, and it’s more important for a country to have a leader who can govern effectively than it is to be viewed by other countries as having a stable political system. Well, if that’s true, then it is true that President Zagel should resign! We have two competing arguments here: the activist’s concerns for the effective governing vs. the president’s concern for how the country looks to the rest of the world. And (E) tells us that the activist’s concern is more important, and that should make us think that the President should resign.

Hope this helps! Feel free to ask any other questions that you might have.